American carrier Airbus is trialling a digital OLED magazine in place of its paper ones, which are falling out of favour for both environmental and health reasons.
Although seemingly an expensive option for an industry already crippled by the pandemic, OLED magazines with flexible, turnable pages require less maintenance, can be cleaned easier, have zero printing costs, weigh less, and can be upgraded rapidly.
They will also take the place of the inflexible LCD screens that many carriers have attached to them, and will be able to play movies, and be held at various angles.
Airbus has been shortlisted for a Crystal Cabin Award as a result of this innovation. The carrier has been working with Royole Technology on these magazines since 2018. Royole positions itself as “a market leader in flexible displays, folding smartphones and flexible sensors”.
The magazines will be available soon, with Airbus planning to trial them on an upcoming flight.
